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Whaley Bridge History Forum Archive = Excellent.
Tremendous work Well Known Norm.
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Hi
Thanks to all who have given support, it is the usual suspects but I think you are the people that would like this forum to succeed. We all know that maybe a forum is not the perfect tool for a history site but that has not stopped it being an invaluable source of infomation, and as mentioned before most of the info has come from a couple of the usual suspects.
Hopefully the little addition I have done will complement the forum. I have decided that maybe a keyword search is probably not worth adding. It would be a lot of work and this forum has a very powerful search engine which I could not beat, so why reinvent the wheel? And thanks again to Trusted IT for all they do.
I have added a little addition where you can list all threads started by a certain author, I am not 100% sure whether it is of any use, but it was very easy to do, so maybe a gain for very little input.
Norm
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I have just tried it...... what a useless bit of software. no decent search and slow response....
Only joking  Well done Norm
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Now that things have settled a bit, and we know what's happening this is how I see it.
This section is limited to approx 17 pages in the index, thankfully threads that are older than that are not deleted, just not in this index. An earlier report in this thread of data missing in threads seems to be inaccurate. Currently threads, with a latest post date older than mid June 2009, are not indexed.
Norm has created an index of threads started from the beginning (March 2009) to approx mid March 2010, a years worth. Not a bad attempt at it. Is that going to be extended to all threads or just that year? Could we improve that index with a bit more more info, a sort of overview of the thread? Or even worse is it all a waste of time and it may melt away as the forum gets larger.
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Norms index is a great piece of work.
It would be possible for the forum software to be altered to list all threads in the index. The reason it hasn't is because the software is a standard piece of web software, which the forum administrator has chosen to use for this forum, and they would be very wary of altering it in case it causes unexpected damage.
There is though a fundamental limit on the amount of space on the server. if this is reached old threads and pictures would drop off permanently. An index maintains the links to the pages, but doesn't save them. If the posts on the history forum are valuable, they need to be copied to a different server.
Is the Whaley history page on a different site altogether?
I am sure that Trusted IT have backups of all the information and look after this very well, but of course they may not be here forever themselves, in which case the backups would be lost too.
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Flannel wrote:Norms index is a great piece of work.
There is though a fundamental limit on the amount of space on the server. if this is reached old threads and pictures would drop off permanently. An index maintains the links to the pages, but doesn't save them. If the posts on the history forum are valuable, they need to be copied to a different server.
Is the Whaley history page on a different site altogether?
I am sure that Trusted IT have backups of all the information and look after this very well, but of course they may not be here forever themselves, in which case the backups would be lost too.
Absolutely
On February 16 #67 –** wrote
The Forum is a big website which few if any companies would wish to host free of charge. Perhaps there is space available on the W. B. Council Server at least for the long term storage, there seems to be precious little else on it
Quote /
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The problem is Mr Flannel the Brothers are not at all keen on IT advice, once given it’s best to stand back until the well known one thinks of it and implements it.
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snoopy wrote:
Norm has created an index of threads started from the beginning (March 2009) to approx mid March 2010, a years worth. Not a bad attempt at it. Is that going to be extended to all threads or just that year? Could we improve that index with a bit more more info, a sort of overview of the thread? Or even worse is it all a waste of time and it may melt away as the forum gets larger.
Thanks snoopy for a good post, and Flannel's reply. I do like your idea of a bit more info, I have said in earlier posts in this thread that to browse the forum is what I wish. So you can "pick" posts that look interesting, and may only look interesting if there is an overview so people can decide.
Maybe a type of "wikipedia", where people can create a short overview, saves one person doing it all. There will of course be verification because of certain elements.
Any thoughts on this?
Norm
Added later. I see the number of pages on the history section has increased to 18 and more threads are displayed, but not all. This is a strange state of affairs, so maybe we should hold back. Would still be nice to get some answers to questions on this thread. Edited by user 24 February 2011 17:52:14(UTC)
| Reason: Added last paragraph
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There you go...all fixed.
Sorry for the delay.
Edited by user 24 February 2011 19:19:58(UTC)
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Thank you Mr Trueman. I think the forum is better if you can browse it, that will save me adding more records to my list.
Case closed. 
Norm
Edited by user 24 February 2011 19:25:33(UTC)
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Norm wrote:
Case closed.
Norm
I am not sure. First thanks Mr Trueman, but an answer a few weeks ago would have saved a bit of work, but if you are busy then that is fair enough, voluntary work should take second place, thanks again.
BUT, now that work has been done should it be just removed, I see it as. I like the idea of a small overview of each post and the fact the members could put it in, also it had a few nice touches, such as browsing by original author. I would update it a few times when I am just chilling at the old machine. So what do other members think, should we ask Norm to bring it back and improve on it or just let it go since it is duplication. Edited by user 25 February 2011 07:34:59(UTC)
| Reason: Make the post nicer :)
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Snoops, I am not sure it is required now, it's lost its appeal now the forum is complete. I agree it had a couple of maybe useful powers, but I am not sure how many people would leave the forum and come on here to search for something when they may be able to find it from where they are.
During the time that we thought posts were missing there seemed a cry for some sort of database etc, but that seems a long way off now. There were also questions about where the information will be in, say, ten years time. I certainly have no answer for that. Also I think we have to put the size of this forum into perspective, there is forum I use quite often, now I admit I haven't a clue on what type/size of machine it runs on but the number of posts on the forum is at the time of writing this is 1,104,275 exactly. That amount of info makes this seem a wee bit small. I have no answers for where this forum is going because it is out of my hands.
So if people think there is a need for the database I set up I certainly don't mind reinstating it and improving it, but I want to feel it would be used before I did that. So it is up to the usual suspects to say what they think, and sensible others, and maybe then we can put this thread to bed.
Norm
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Hi All,
I would just like to make an observation.
If you take a look around the web your will see lots of forums and NONE of them have an infinite history/archive within their pages, you simply cannot expect the forum to fill up and be there for ever. Even Microsoft forums get cleaned down and archived.
One day the paging function will run out again or the database will become too big for the server. It WILL need to be cleaned at some point, it is not an infinite archive!
The way I see the History forum is it’s a place to discuss, gather and share local history, I do not see it as an archive of history! I see it more as a scrapbook for the real Whaley Bridge History website.
The real history website is a site that does not have all the junk chitchat around it.
I do have one suggestion for Norm and that is it would be good if you had a reference section at the bottom of each page with a link back to the discussion threads in the forum (where the research took place). Just an idea.
Edited by user 26 February 2011 23:04:05(UTC)
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MrTrueman wrote:
I do have one suggestion for Norm and that is it would be good if you had a reference section at the bottom of each page with a link back to the discussion threads in the forum. Just an idea.
Thanks for the info Mr Trueman.
Not really sure why have a link back to the discusion threads in the forum if they are going to be deleted,
Norm
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Norm,
I am not saying anything is going to be deleted, I am just saying people need to understand what the forum really is!
Yes if the admins delete a year of posts from the database the reference links back to the original research discussion thread would be lost, but that was not my thinking.
I was thinking more along the lines of, if we lose the paging ability again then the reference link would be a most sensible way of dealing with an historical index, rather than trying to index every single thread in the forum.
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snoopy wrote:
I am not sure. First thanks Mr Trueman, but an answer a few weeks ago would have saved a bit of work, but if you are busy then that is fair enough, voluntary work should take second place, thanks again.
BUT, now that work has been done should it be just removed, I see it as. I like the idea of a small overview of each post and the fact the members could put it in, also it had a few nice touches, such as browsing by original author. I would update it a few times when I am just chilling at the old machine. So what do other members think, should we ask Norm to bring it back and improve on it or just let it go since it is duplication.
Since you are the only person who wants it now I think it may be best left alone.
As I said, case closed, or maybe until the next time.
Norm
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Are we losing the history?.....No
Thread closed.
Edited by user 28 February 2011 09:28:36(UTC)
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